Regeneration Starts Within: How Cindy Sheffield Healed Herself and Her Land at TLC Ranch
From illness to soil health: how Cindy Sheffield’s journey birthed TLC Ranch, a regenerative bison ranch and organic pecan orchard in Oklahoma.
Hey Rebels,
Before Cindy Sheffield ever raised bison or cracked a pecan, she faced a personal struggle with her health.
In her twenties, chronic illness left her bedridden. Doctors called it stress. God called her to Arkansas and to a book on food allergies that rewired everything she knew about health, medicine, and eventually, farming.
What began as her search for healing became the rebirth of 85 acres in Burneyville, Oklahoma. That land is now home to TLC Ranch, where bison roam and certified-organic pecan trees root into living soil instead of chemicals.
The Land: Burneyville’s Regenerative Ranch
TLC Ranch sits on 85 acres of sandy bottomland once destined for decline. When Cindy and her husband bought the property in 1997, it was little more than fences, a dilapidated barn, and a dream.
Today, it’s a regenerative bison ranch and organic pecan orchard (a rare combination in Oklahoma) proving that the same principles that restore the body can restore the earth.
Farm Type: Regenerative bison ranch + certified organic pecan orchard
Founded: 1997
Location: Burneyville, Oklahoma
Practices: Holistic herd management, biological inputs, no synthetic sprays, faith-driven stewardship
The Turning Point: Healing Through Food and Faith
At 28, Cindy could barely walk. Chronic sinus infections, pain, and fatigue kept her on the couch. Doctors prescribed surgeries she couldn’t afford and pills that didn’t heal.
Then came a road trip to Arkansas and a book she now calls “the seed of TLC Ranch.”
It linked food and immunity decades before gut health was mainstream. Within six months of changing her diet to whole and organic foods, she was pregnant and off antibiotics for good!
That revelation that health begins in the soil of the gut would eventually shape how she managed her orchard and herd.
“The same way I had to rebuild my gut, I had to rebuild the soil,” Cindy told us. “Both needed life, not chemicals.”
The Transformation: From Chemicals to Living Systems
By 2011, Cindy was running the pecan orchard “by the book.” That book was written by chemical companies.
She held a sprayer license and was told that fungicides and herbicides were the only way trees could survive.
Example Mainstream Language (from university bulletins)
“Regular fungicide applications are required to control pecan scab and ensure marketable yields.” — Oklahoma Cooperative Extension, Pecan Management Guide, 2012
“Chemical herbicides are the most efficient and cost-effective way to control vegetation in pecan orchards.” — Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Weed Management in Pecans, 2015
But after a 2015 flood devastated their orchard, she noticed something her husband couldn’t ignore… the sections with healthy grass and life held firm while the bare ground washed away.
That was their conversion moment.
By 2016, she’d stopped synthetic sprays entirely. In their place came biological inputs: clove oil, orange oil, beneficial wasps, nematodes, and faith.
“The industry told me my trees would die without chemicals,” she said. “They didn’t die. They adapted — just like I did.”
Pecans as Medicine and Metaphor
When most people think pecans, they think pie. Cindy thinks nutrition.
Pecans are rich in ellagic acid (a compound scientifically shown to inhibit cancer growth) and packed with magnesium, zinc, and B-vitamins. Her organic orchard now produces what she calls “a fat that heals,” a counter-narrative to industrial snack foods that strip soil and body alike.
When a friend was battling cancer, she sold $5,000 of pecans in two weeks to buy him a Rife machine and sent the profits straight to his family. Healing has always been her business model.
🦬 Bison Behavior and Regenerative Balance
TLC’s herd started with 16 bison from a veterinarian who once led the National Bison Association.They’ve grown the herd naturally since, learning that managing bison means listening more than controlling.
Cindy recalls a morning when three calves refused to move past a gate. Instead of forcing them, she watched an older cow step up and “speak” to them until they followed.
“They communicate. They teach. They remind you that you’re not in charge — you’re in relationship,” she said.
That relationship extends to herd health too. She uses homeopathic wormers and biological sprays, reserving medicine only when nature can’t correct it herself.
The Fight for Recognition: Organic and IRS Challenges
Despite decades of work and thousands invested, Cindy’s still waiting for a USDA-certified processor who’ll handle less than 100,000 pounds of pecans, the volume required for most facilities to even turn on their machines.
Meanwhile, the IRS has audited her family farm, calling it a “hobby” because of slow pecan profits which ignores that pecan orchards take 10–12 years to mature.
Still, she refuses to quit.
“Maybe I’m supposed to go through this so I can fight for others who don’t have the resources,” she told us.
Her appeal continues. Not just for her own farm, but for every regenerative farmer labeled a ‘hobbyist’ for rejecting industrial agriculture’s fast-money model.
Faith, Family, and Future Generations
Nearly 30 years later, three generations live and learn on the land. Cindy’s grandkids rise barefoot to thank the sun, ground in the soil, and pray for energy to help others.
Through floods, droughts, and audits, TLC Ranch has become a living lesson in faith as a farming practice.
“Regeneration starts from within,” Cindy said. “If you heal yourself, you’ll know how to heal the land.”
Key Takeaways for Rebels
Healing the soil and the body follow the same biological truths.
Faith and intuition can guide better than formulas and chemicals.
Biological inputs work, even if they’re 10× more expensive than synthetics
Pecans are a nutrient-dense local food worth re-marketing beyond desserts.
Bureaucracy often lags behind regeneration… fight anyway.
Thank you for reading, Viva La Regenaissance!
-Ryan Griggs
Watch the Full Conversation with Cindy Sheffield
What you just read is only a glimpse of Cindy’s story. In the full episode of Regeneration Starts Within, she opens up about faith, floods, and fighting the IRS — all while proving that the soil heals as the soul does.